Bush nominates Dick Dorr for federal judgeship

President George W. Bush March 21 nominated Springfield attorney Dick Dorr for a judgeship with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

The nomination will now be sent to the Senate for confirmation.

Dorr, managing partner with Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin's Springfield office, is being nominated to fill a vacancy created by the death of D. Brook Bartlett in January 2000. Bartlett also was a partner with Blackwell Sanders before he took the bench.

"I very much appreciate President Bush nominating me for this position, and I look forward to going through the confirmation process in the Senate," Dorr said in a Blackwell Sanders release. "This is a special opportunity for me at this point in my career, particularly in light of the fact that I will be filling the position previously held by Judge Brook Bartlett."

An experienced trial attorney, Dorr joined Blackwell Sanders as a partner in 1996 and opened its Springfield office. Since Dorr joined the firm, Blackwell Sanders' Springfield office has grown from three to 13 attorneys.

Dorr graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia Law School in 1968. He then entered the Air Force and served as a judge advocate at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, and Bitburg Air Base, Germany, before settling in Springfield in 1973.